Mixed-Use Project to Get Underway This Month in Downtown LA

Construction will begin this month on One Santa Fe, a long-anticipated $160-million apartment, office and retail development in the arts district of downtown Los Angeles.

Plans by Los Angeles architect Michael Maltzan call for 438 apartments and 78,620 square feet of office and retail space, along with nearly 50,000 square feet of public outdoor space. When completed in 2014, it is to have an outdoor terrace, a grocery store, art gallery, a theater and a garden.

Twenty percent of the units will be priced for low-income renters.

One Santa Fe was conceived in the mid-2000s but was delayed by the economic downturn and challenges connected to its complex financing structure, McGregor said.

The 790,000-square-foot complex will rise on four acres of land on Santa Fe Avenue between 1st and 4th streets that was leased from the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The six-story project is across the street from the Southern California Institute of Architecture, where about 500 students attend classes in a century-old rail freight depot that is a quarter of a mile long and about 37 feet wide.

The commercial component is being financed by a loan from the city; new markets tax credit allocations from Clearinghouse CDFI, Genesis LA Economic Growth Corp. and the Los Angeles Development Fund; and new markets tax credit equity by Goldman Sachs.

"The One Santa Fe development is a prime example of a partnership that supports positive economic development in Los Angeles," said Los Angeles City Councilwoman Jan Perry, who represents the area.